Washington another St. Bonnies star

Two weeks ago at the Saugus Under the Lights Passing Tournament, a huge tight end was lined up for Ventura (Calif.) St. Bonaventure and he was making big catch after big catch. That big man ended up being 6-foot-5, 255-pound tight end Raphael Washington.

And while he's not been talked about much, he appears to also be a big thing with the college coaches. He's already got scholarship offers from Oregon State, Washington and Nevada with more seemingly on the way.

"I've been hearing most recently from Oregon State, Nevada, Nebraska, Arizona, Arizona State, Washington and USC," said Washington, who had 15 receptions for 132 yards and three touchdowns as a junior.

"I think UNLV is close to offering, but they said they can't offer until I fill out a questionnaire. They pretty much want me, but I haven't filled one in yet."

Washington has a frame that could also allow him to grow into an offensive linemen, but he does have good enough body control that he could fit into the tight end role in college. He got a chance to show off both of his pass catching and blocking ability at USC's camp in early June and then again at Rising Senior Camp in late June.

"I did pretty well," he said. "The first day at skill camp I had a lot of fun. The rising senior camp once again I had a lot of fun.

"I'm thinking about going up to maybe Cal, UCLA, Oregon, Oregon State or Florida because I'm from Florida for an unofficial visit or for a camp if they still have them. One of my teammates, Andrew Sims, is going down there to Florida for a camp, so we were thinking about going down there together."

Washington would love to get a Trojan offer, but he's also open to quite a few other schools.

"Right now USC is my top team," Washington said. "Next would be Oregon. Next would be Cal. Then I'll put UCLA and then one of the teams in Florida. Seminoles probably.

"I've been going over it with my mom and my dad. Right now it looks like I'm going to go through my decision before I decide unless I get that big offer from USC at the position I want to play at either defensive line or tight end."